Susquehanna Twp. residents oppose Triple Crown's rezone request

A developer's quest to rezone four acres bumped up against claims of spot zoning and the specter of property
values already straining from the woes of Susquehanna Twp. School District, at a public hearing Thursday night.

About two dozen Susquehanna Twp. residents, many from the
Sienna Woods development, filled the Susquehanna Twp. building's meeting room for a March 13 hearing into Triple
Crown Corp.'s request to rezone four acres at 2809 Ionoff Road.

Township commissioners tabled the proposal until their April
10 meeting.

The plot currently holds an unoccupied home from the 1940s
or '50s and is zoned for up to two single-family homes per acre, on minimum
20,000-square-foot lots. But the site's sloping topography limits the number of
possible new homes to four, said Triple Crown President Mark DiSanto.

Rezoning
to medium density would keep single-family restrictions but allow smaller lots,
for seven projected new homes, he said.

"It's really a physical constraint to the existing parcel
that makes our request," DiSanto said. "It's not for any higher density."

Many residents, including some whose properties back up to
the disputed plot, dismissed zoning legalities and said that seven homes on the
narrow, sloping lot would cause runoff, increase traffic, diminish property
values, and disrupt their peaceful neighborhood. The four homes possible under
current zoning should be adequate, they argued.

The seven proposed homes, fenced off from adjoining properties,
would "match up very nicely" with the neighborhood and sell in the high $200,000s
to $300,000s, DiSanto said.

"I immediately questioned why any resident would want to
build a $300,000 home on a 10,000-square-foot lot surrounded by rentals to the
rear, townhouses to the north, and then on the other side are fences, which we
intend to build to block the whole thing out," said Minnich. "It's absolutely ridiculous
that people are going to spend that kind of money."

Township Solicitor Bruce Foreman said he determined that approval
would not be spot zoning, an illegal zoning change to a landowner's economic benefit
or detriment "without consideration for the adjoining, neighboring land." A
medium-density area between low- and high-density developments "would be a
transitional zone which is consistent with the comprehensive plan of the
township and of the county," he said.

Rejection wouldn't be spot zoning, either, because Triple
Crown would still be able to build, said Commissioner Justin Fleming.

"With or without the zoning change, there's an opportunity
to develop that land, and as the landowner, that's Mr. DiSanto's decision,"
Fleming said.

Many of the residents' fears are "red herrings" from people who
"want to be able to look across and see no activity, or minimal activity,"
DiSanto said. He urged commissioners to stick to the zoning issues at hand.

"We have no intention of affecting anyone's lawn, anyone's
garden, anyone's property," he said. "What we're trying to do is use this property
in an economical fashion comporting with what the township's 10-year plan is."